The injury ghost has continued its job, now taking out on the most crucial players for current Arsenal. Martin Odegaard, who hasn’t missed any noticeable match last season, will be out for at least 3 weeks. This is very disturbing for our general attacking play, given that Arteta hasn’t really found a successor for Martin and we often relying on his passing to open up a low block.
His position needs excellent technique with the ball, ability to work in very tight spaces, great vision of the pitch and late runs into the box, It doesn’t require speed and explosiveness though. I know that Arteta tried to play Nwaneri in this role in pre-season and he might actually be qualified for it. However, I don’t think he would be considered an option for the upcoming game with Spurs. Arteta is not a fan of experimentation and I believe he would try Nwaneri in a less intensive fixture before rolling him out fully in a game, like NLD.
Apart from Ethan, the closest to Odegaard profile in the team have Saka and Trossard. I have been long waiting for Belgian to play in this position. He might lack the pace to play a winger at times, but, he’s very dangerous around the edge of the box. I believe he could be rotated with Nwaneri for this role in the next 3-4 weeks, while the captain is out. However, if I would bet, I’d say we’ll see Saka as number 10 on Sunday.
So how could we set up?
Every crisis is an opportunity. And the fact that miss Odegaard and Rice, could actually be a good chance to give up our traditional ball possession in favour of counterattacking football. Spurs continue their style of play from last year. They will attack in numbers using also both wing backs to create the chances, but they always leave spaces behind their high defence to be exploited. Even Leicester and Everton had those chances. Newcastle had several good ones per one half. So there’s no doubt Arsenal will also have them, just like they did in the same fixture half a year ago. Therefore, it’s even more daunting that we have all these injuries accumulated – 3 points at Tottenham stadium are definitely there to be taken now, while Ange is ruling the team.
For this reason I personally would prioritise putting our in-form attackers in front – specifically, Havertz and Saka. They both scored in April and I believe they have the most probability to convert presented chances now. Complemented with Martinelli on the left and Trossard in behind, it could be our flash attacking power that would be further strengthened by Sterling, able to come in for any of the front players.
The central midfield in this case could consist even of two fossils in shape of Partey and Jorginho, whose main job would not be running around and leaving spaces, but rather lightning fast transition of the ball to front four, supported by the wing backs. Together with Gabriel and Big Bill they could guarantee that we have not much space in behind for Spurs players to exploit. Luckily, both Partey and Jorginho, have in their legs the ability to move the ball by 30-40 meters successfully.
There’s a possibility of using another progressive passer – Zinchenko in left 8 position, where he played last national game for Ukraine. However, Arteta was very reluctant to do that before and I don’t see him doing it now. I think, he doesn’t believe in Zinchenko’s ability to take fast decision every time under pressing and not being robbed. It’s also a pity that Calafiori got injured as well – he looked the most impressive in the aggressive wing back role and surely could do some Spursy damage, same as injured Tomiyasu. But we’ll have to work with what we have and hopefully Timber will be enough to get the job done.
I would put the following line-up:
- White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber(Calafiori if fit)
- Partey, Jorginho
- Trossard
- Martinelli (or Sterling), Havertz, Saka
But I think the Arteta’s version would be:
- White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber
- Partey
- Havertz, Saka
- Martinelli, Trossard, Sterling
In any case, we have it in the team to go for the deserved win! COYG!